Some May Be Giant...Swimmers!

Today's post was actually written a few weeks ago.  Sadly, today I am sitting indoors in cold, cloudy Portland.

I spent some time today lounging by a pool.  I’m in beautiful (and hot) Sunriver, Oregon with some dear friends.  While we’ve spent quite a bit of time chatting and reading, we’ve also biked, walked and EATEN!!  But this afternoon, in the heat of the day (about 84 degrees), we find ourselves sitting in or near a 1.5 foot deep kiddie pool at the aquatic park.  The water is a balmy temperature, allowing small children to cool off as they dip their teeny, tiny, fragile baby toes, some for the first time, in a pool.  Meanwhile, we adults stand with water up only to our ankles or sit with water only up to our hips and are refreshed but after awhile, no longer cool.  We are surrounded by parents of small babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers.  The largest cluster of chairs and chaises tucked under the one umbrella in the area as parents try to provide their children with a break from the hot sun.  It’s a perfect spot for reapplying yet another layer of aerosol sunscreen marketed with a pasty white baby on the front.  

With us is an active two year old.  He keeps his parents busy by running back and forth between the pool and sand area.  He stops only briefly to wash the sand off his feet, although other children do not and therefore leave a layer of sand on the concrete bottom of the pool.  As his joy transforms to fussiness, his parents, who themselves cannot get a moment to cool off, spend the next three-ish hours keeping him safe, fed and content. 

Eventually, I wander out of the kiddie pool area and walk through the rest of the aquatic complex.  The place is crawling with children in goggles, swimsuits and red chlorinated eyes. They run past me with bare feet on their way to the lazy river as I walk slowly.  The whole time my stomach my is sucked in trying to fool all those I pass who are checking me out--the men caught by the amount of skin I am showing, the women deciding whether or not they look better in their bathing suit than me.  Adults are sitting in chairs catching rays; books and/or beers in hand, some having absolutely no knowledge of where their children are, other than “somewhere in one of these pools.”  Meanwhile, lifeguards who “appear” to be only about 12 years old scan the water for drowning or misbehaving swimmers.  Their job becomes more about regulation and less about saving lives.  From time to time they approach an adult, 20 to 30 years their senior, with trepidation as they ask them to obey an ignored rule.   A twelve year old lifeguard with a shaky voice lends itself to some pompous adult telling them “to get lost!”  

Finally, I return to the kiddie pool area where my friends remain.  I find it much more enjoyable here; I feel protected from the obscenities of the world, condensed into a small aquatic facility.  I reapply sunscreen to my olive colored skin as I remember I am not as young as I used to be and am capable of obtaining sun spots which make for a less attractive sun tan.  In here, I worry less about what I look like, it’s quieter and less crowded.  I am with friends. After a few hours, all of us, exhausted from the sun, heat and water, trudge back to our house in the resort.  The walk always seems harder on the way home.  Our skin is tight and bellies empty as we look forward to taking turns washing the sunscreen and sweat off our bodies and prepare for a good nights sleep!

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